Like the street in front of his home, Francisco Ruiz’s front yard is pocked and lumpy in areas.

It isn’t exactly the landscape he dreamed of when he moved in 1979 to the only two-story home on his stretch of Miller Avenue.

Ruiz said his lawn was damaged when aging water pipes that run under the street in front of his home broke and flooded it twice in the last few years – a problem Gardena has been experiencing citywide, officials say.

On Ruiz’s street, Golden State Water Co. dug up the asphalt, patched up the pipes and laid a fresh cover over the disrupted road after each break. But Ruiz said the company has also left behind depressions in lawns and cracked curbs and asphalt.

“They need to replace the whole waterline,” Ruiz said. “I don’t know what they do with all our money. We are really, really not happy in this situation. If I knocked down the water pipe and I don’t pay right away, they’re going to sue me. They make damage to my property and don’t say: `What can we do to fix your property?”‘

Golden State Water Co. Southwest District Manager Shad Rezai said the company has done a good job repairing damage from the broken pipes. The main problem is the city’s neglect of the street, he said.

“The street itself is in bad shape,” Rezai said. “We spend millions of dollars on our capital improvement program, so we are very aggressive in terms of capital improvement. We want to make sure our customers are happy with our service.”

Rezai said the company will level off the uneven areas on the lawns of Ruiz and his neighbor, whose lot was flooded two weeks ago.

The city plans to resurface the street this summer, along with about 20 miles of residential streets, according to Public Works Director Bruce Pollock.

But the old water pipes beneath Gardena seem to have become increasingly fragile, said City Manager Mitch Lansdell.

Water pipes routinely crack and break when the weather changes, but the number of breaks around the city has seemed excessive this year, he said.

“I believe there was a period of time in December where they were working on 13 locations at one time,” Lansdell said. “When they do these emergency patches that they’ve been doing, they’re supposed to come back in a couple weeks (to put in permanent repairs). But because of the number of breaks they have had, some of these locations have been months in disrepair.”

Lansdell said landscaping at the city’s new transportation facility, which is under construction at 13999 S. Western Ave., was partially flooded during a break in December.

Mayor Paul Tanaka strongly criticized the water company.

“Golden State Water is a terrible company, and that is an understatement,” Tanaka said. “That is being kind. Their outrageous rates. Their service is lousy. It’s obvious they don’t even provide service. They’re nonresponsive. Their water is dirty.”

Golden State, which has an average fee of about $50 per month for a residential customer, has applied with the state Public Utilities Commission for a rate increase of about 20 percent in 2010, another 2percent in 2011, and 3 percent in 2012.

Rezai said the higher rates would fund new pipelines, among other projects.

“We have replaced several thousand feet of pipeline in Gardena and other areas in the southwest district,” Rezai said. “In our upcoming rate (increase) case, that’s one of the areas we’ve submitted for – additional capital improvement projects.”

Francisco Ruiz’s neighbor, Glen Williams, said he hopes the pipe on Miller Avenue is replaced because he worries it is going to break completely. His lawn has been damaged by three water pipe floods – most recently about two weeks ago.

“They dug underneath my lawn, and when they filled it back in, they didn’t pack it. As the soil settles, it’s sinking,” Williams said. “There’s three potholes in my lawn. I said `At least level it out or fix these potholes you’re putting in there.’ Of course, they didn’t.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.